Room One Hundred and Nineteen: Watching Her (Club Sin: Seattle Session 2)

15. Rick

15

RICK

T he drive to Elena’s place was fast. Hell, if we were being honest, we had already been halfway there when she finally answered our call. When her house came into view, it felt like I could finally breathe again yet not all at the same time.

“She’s going to be pissed,” Josh noted. His hands gripped the steering wheel with a white-knuckled hold. We had been quiet since we had jumped into Josh’s Explorer and hit the road about seven minutes after her text about canceling came in.

“Good,” Miles clipped. I looked over my shoulder to see him gazing out the window, his thick arms crossed over his chest. “Let her be pissed. Does she really think we’d run like that?” he asked out loud without looking toward the front seat. I could see why he was upset. I felt it, too.

“Miles,” I sighed. I was just as pissed as the two of them, but this was real.

Life could be messy and complicated. She had tried to warn us over and over, and honestly, we should have been prepared. I think we were that first week after our time at Club Sin, waiting for her to have a moment of doubt, but when it didn’t come, we let it lull us into a false sense of security.

She was raising two kids on her own. Tossing three of us into the mix, knowing how bossy and challenging we could be, I understood where her head was when she cancelled and then when she told us we couldn’t work out. .

Not that I agreed with her, but logically, I could see where she was coming from. Elena was scared.

I’d worked with her this morning. Everything had been good, better than good; it had been great. We even had a secret little make-out session in one of the empty rooms. And when I pulled away, just before all hell broke loose, I knew she was falling for us. We already knew where we stood. We loved her. We wanted everything with Elena.

But seeing those same feelings reflected in her dark eyes behind those glasses had felt beautiful. If she wasn’t already in love, she was close, and that’s why this whole thing had her freaked out. When crazy call after crazier call rushed through the emergency room doors and dragged me to emergency surgery for the rest of the day, I’d lost any opportunity to spend more time with her.

When I was done, she had already left. I’d assumed it was to get the house ready because we were coming over. Not that she needed to do that.

Now that we knew it was because the kids got sick, it all made sense.

“She’s going to try to push us away,” I said out loud because we needed to make sure we were on the same page. We should have been prepared for this.

“She can try, but we’re not going anywhere,” Josh muttered, making my lips twitch.

“We just have to prove to her we’re in this for the long haul. That we want the real shit with her. That this thing between us is more than hot fucking sex and shit.”

“You really think she’s even going to give us a chance?” Miles cut in, sounding like a toddler having a temper tantrum. “Shit, I bet you season tickets to see the Seahawks that she won’t let us through the front door,” he added just as Josh parked in front of her small house.

The three of us looked at it, and I knew we were all thinking the same thing. We needed to move them out of this place and into ours as soon as fucking possible. There was nothing wrong with the house. It just needed work that took more time than Elena had to spare. Especially now that the twins were signed up for a sport. But our place was bigger and had more space for the kids to play and live and grow.

“I’ll take that bet,” Josh murmured. And we turned to look at him, not that he spared us a glance. “She’ll let us in,” he said confidently with a sardonic smile on his lips. “Even if it’s just to prove a point that we can’t handle shit.” I stayed quiet because I had a feeling he was right.

“Deal,” Miles said, and I rolled my eyes. The dumbasses shook on it. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get to Elena and the kids. I turned to face them.

“This all settled so we can get this shit on the road and go after what we came for?” I asked, then everyone nodded.

Without saying another word, we slipped out of the oversized SUV and made our way to the front door.

Ready or not, Elena needed to brace.

Because as messy as life could be, we were good at cleaning up messes.